Hardware Beyond the Hype
My full review of the Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard is now up on the Federated Media Holiday Gadget Guide. Here’s a snip:
I cannot tell you how gorgeous and yummy the diNovo Edge ((Logitech.com, $200) keyboard is. I don’t know whether to type on it or take it to bed. Of course, since it’s Bluetooth wireless and has a built-in trackpad …er… “TouchDisc,” I could take it to bed, and control a Mac- or PC-based media computer from there.
Here’s a whimsical use for Google Maps. You type out your message and geoGreeting finds aerial sat pics of buildings with the letterforms of your message. Your recipient gets a link to an animated map where the buildings are located, in sequence, spelling out your “geogreeting.” Fun.
[Via O’Reilly Radar]
We know you’re probably sick and tired of gadget-site gift guides at this point, but we hope you’ll find the second installment of ours worthwhile because, as with Part 1, we actually tested most of the gifts suggested here and recommend them because we like them, not because PR agents plied us with incentives (he says as he’s swooning over some mind-alteringly-good “hand-made” chocolates that Belkin just sent over).
And we’d love to hear from you, in site comments or via email, if you buy anything from our Guide and what you or your recipient thought of it.
Khalid Hosein, one of the editors at RoboCommunity, a site dedicated to WowWee robotics, sent me a link in response to my posting on the RSMedia Robot. On the site, I found an interesting YouTube vid of the lovably eccentric Mark Tilden. My favorite part is when he starts telling the female interviewer about his PissBot, a bathroom bot that cleans up misses around the bowl. Hey, I’ll take one of those.
Here’s a very simple circuit you can use to build a battery charger that will recharge regular alkaline *non- rechargeables.* It uses a low current to charge and is reasonably safe. It may not be officially recommended, because there is some risk of a battery burst, but it’s not likely to kill you, blind you, make you impotent, or even make much of an impression on your day. The builder pushed a pair of AAs by charging them until they did “burst.” Three drops of “weak acid” fizzed out of the side, which he wiped away with his fingers. I personally wouldn’t recommend touching it, but I’ve certainly had battery acid on my skin numerous times, washed it off, and been just fine. I have WAY too many disposables around. I’d love to juice them all up again and spare throwing them away or buying more.
[Via Gizmodo]
It’s astounding how quickly folks have begun hacking into the Wii remote, and after figuring out it’s a Bluetooth device, creating drivers and beginning to dream up apps for it on other systems. For a a lot of the latest, check out Liquidice’s Wii Hacks Page, Wii Linux, and WiiModWii. Some of these sites are being hammered with traffic (esp. Wii Linux), so try back if you can’t get through.
You can also search on “wiimote” on YouTube and find a lot of hack demos, like the above, which shows a guy playing Half-Life 2 on a Windows PC using a Wii controller.
While doing research for my Robosapien V2 review for the Federated Gadget Guide, I discovered that Robosapien Media (or RS Media as he’s called), or V3, I guess you could call him, is already being released in some parts of the world (Germany, the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). I guess he’s not going to make it to US shores by this Christmas. That’s a shame. Same thing happened last year with the V2 as I recall. But you can see the demos and specs on the RSMediaOnline site and see some beloved bot deconstructing already going on by early buyers via this Aussie forum.
Wow. Check out this awesome Nixie Tube Wrist Watch. It even has a Krusty the Clown-branded battery (“Krusty sez: ‘If these suckers leak or explode, don’t blame me'”). You might not be able to build or afford to buy one of the watches (the builder sold the last one for US$495), but you CAN download the Krusty battery label to make your own.
‘Tis the season to collect FedEx and other boxes. I have a looming mound of them in my office right now. What to do with ’em? Well, with 3 large and 1 medium FedEx boxes, you could make an in-bed/laptop desk. It may not be pretty, but it works, and you could obviously paint it or cover it with fabric or something.
[Via DIY:happy]
If only there was something redeeming about smoking. Hey,